Tag: God’s presence

This Only Do I Seek

Old Testament Reading: Genesis 49 & 50

Psalms Reading: Psalm 27

New Testament Reading: Matthew 26

(Sorry, if you didn’t receive this earlier today – it seems to have appeared on wordpress and facebook this morning, but not to the email list…Or, sorry if you DID receive it earlier this morning and this is now a repeat.)

If you could have anything in the world, what would it be?


For some of you, the answer might be a trip to a neat destination (Ireland seems pretty awesome). For others, it might be to finally marry that person of your dreams. Maybe you would ask to have children one day, or for your current children to have successful lives. If you’re in some financial difficulty, like so many are, maybe you’d wish to just be debt-free. None of those things are bad of course! However, they aren’t the most important thing; and thankfully, you don’t need to have a magic genie in a bottle to acquire the most important thing. It is readily available to each and every believer right now.


In Psalm 27, the author (likely not David due to his references to the Temple) states that the only desire he is seeking after is to be in the presence of YHWH in His holy temple. For the author, God’s presence was the most precious gift one could ask for; it surpassed all the greatness to be found on earth. For in God’s presence, one can finally be at rest and peace (see Psalm 23), and receive the forgiveness of sins that all of us long for (see Psalm 25). Being in God’s presence is everything; and thankfully, it is readily available to us.


In the New Testament, Jesus says that “wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in their midst” (Matthew 18:20), and wherever Jesus is found, God’s presence is found, too (see John 1:14; 14:9). If you truly want to experience God’s presence today, the greatest gift that you could ever experience in this life, it is available with other believers. When we gather together to worship, to serve, or even to eat a meal, the presence of God is there. We feel closest to God when we are surrounded by our brothers and sisters in the faith, gathering together in Jesus’ name. And while you can pray to God in private by yourself, you will never experience His powerful glory if you remain alone; we need to prioritize time together as believers (Hebrews 10:25). We were not designed to be alone (Genesis 2:18), but to enjoy fellowship with each other.

Brothers and sisters, come and join with your fellow Christians today and this week. There is no greater gift on earth than what you can experience there.

-Talon Paul

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

  1. What verse from Psalm 27 would be a good one to have on your refrigerator and in your heart this week? Make it so.
  2. What are the benefits of being together with your Christian brothers and sisters? List as many as you can. In what ways can you make more opportunities and time to do this more and more?
  3. What do you learn of God in your reading today?
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This Only Do I Seek

Old Testament Reading: Genesis 49 & 50

Psalms Reading: Psalm 27

New Testament Reading: Matthew 26

If you could have anything in the world, what would it be?


For some of you, the answer might be a trip to a neat destination (Ireland seems pretty awesome). For others, it might be to finally marry that person of your dreams. Maybe you would ask to have children one day, or for your current children to have successful lives. If you’re in some financial difficulty, like so many are, maybe you’d wish to just be debt-free. None of those things are bad of course! However, they aren’t the most important thing; and thankfully, you don’t need to have a magic genie in a bottle to acquire the most important thing. It is readily available to each and every believer right now.


In Psalm 27, the author (likely not David due to his references to the Temple) states that the only desire he is seeking after is to be in the presence of YHWH in His holy temple. For the author, God’s presence was the most precious gift one could ask for; it surpassed all the greatness to be found on earth. For in God’s presence, one can finally be at rest and peace (see Psalm 23), and receive the forgiveness of sins that all of us long for (see Psalm 25). Being in God’s presence is everything; and thankfully, it is readily available to us.


In the New Testament, Jesus says that “wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in their midst” (Matthew 18:20), and wherever Jesus is found, God’s presence is found, too (see John 1:14; 14:9). If you truly want to experience God’s presence today, the greatest gift that you could ever experience in this life, it is available with other believers. When we gather together to worship, to serve, or even to eat a meal, the presence of God is there. We feel closest to God when we are surrounded by our brothers and sisters in the faith, gathering together in Jesus’ name. And while you can pray to God in private by yourself, you will never experience His powerful glory if you remain alone; we need to prioritize time together as believers (Hebrews 10:25). We were not designed to be alone (Genesis 2:18), but to enjoy fellowship with each other.

Brothers and sisters, come and join with your fellow Christians today and this week. There is no greater gift on earth than what you can experience there.

-Talon Paul

Reflection Questions

  1. What verse from Psalm 27 would be a good one to have on your refrigerator and in your heart this week? Make it so.
  2. What are the benefits of being together with your Christian brothers and sisters? List as many as you can. In what ways can you make more opportunities and time to do this more and more?
  3. What do you learn of God in your reading today?
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Abandoned Inheritance

Lamentations 1 & 2

Whenever I see a post on my social newsfeed that features images of abandoned buildings, especially amusement parks, I go ahead and click on it to scroll through the photos. I am always intrigued with what I see: carousels with missing horses; buildings with broken window panes; rusted park rides; overgrown weeds winding their way through what used to be “Main Street”. 

To think that these amusement parks used to be the location of families creating memories, friends laughing with one another, people being thrilled have now turned into deserted playgrounds creates a sadness over what used to be.

As I read through the first two chapters of Lamentations, I get a similar feeling of sadness because I cannot help but think about how Jerusalem was described at its apex of prosperity. If you have a few extra minutes, go back and read 1 Kings 10. King Solomon had completed building the temple and his palaces and in this chapter it states that silver was considered of little value (1 Kings 10:21). God’s people truly were experiencing the Promised Land, the land overflowing with milk and honey. If there were a time in history to visit, this would be it!

And 400-ish years later, Jerusalem falls and its inhabitants are taken into captivity in Babylon. God’s Presence literally left the building and the city, as well as its walls, are left to erode.  

As Believers, you and I are filled with God’s Spirit. We are meant to be thriving and living life abundantly. Sure we have seasons of struggle, but overall, we get to experience God’s blessings NOW and have an even greater hope for eternity. Think of it like the days of Solomon where prosperity rules.

Let’s learn the lesson from these two chapters in Lamentations. Let us not find ourselves losing our inheritance due to disobedience. Let us not become like an abandoned place that is left to devastation. Instead, let us focus on being diligent with our studies of Scripture and allowing God to be ruler of our lives.

-Bethany Ligon

Today’s Bible reading passages can be read or listened to at BibleGateway.com here – Lamentations 1 & 2 and James 5

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My House Is In Ruins

Haggai

Yesterday we ran across Ezra 5:1-2, which mentions that the prophets Haggai and Zechariah come and encourage the people in Jerusalem to continue rebuilding the temple. As promised, today we are zooming into Haggai’s role in this. How convenient that there is a book in the bible named Haggai that gives us this information.

We know from Ezra 4 that the people in Jerusalem were forced to stop rebuilding the temple by the Persian king Artaxerxes. Some time passes by, and Haggai comes on the scene to prophesy to them. God has some things to get across to them.

The temple sits unfinished, and people of Jerusalem are either too fearful or apathetic to continue working on it. God calls them out on this, saying that his house is in ruins while they are decking out their own. They have been running around doing their own thing, and they never seem to have enough of anything. It’s a rat race. And since the house of God is being neglected, there is a drought in every aspect of their lives. God commands them to get working on the temple again.

This convicts their hearts as it should ours as well. What is the work God has called us to do that we’ve been putting off? What are we allowing to distract us from it? How could we be more intentional about building the opportunities to encounter God in our daily lives?

Heeding this conviction, the people begin building again, but there are some who are discouraged about something we saw in Ezra 3. The people who are old enough to have seen the original temple think this new temple is nothing in comparison. God tells them to take courage, and work, because he is with them. He assures them his spirit is among them as promised when he brought them out of Egypt. That hasn’t changed, don’t be afraid. God tells them he will “shake” things, which at first sounds like an earthquake, but is a dramatic way of saying he will upset the balance. The treasures will be transferred from the nations to his house. He owns all the gold and silver anyway! What doesn’t God own? God promises the splendor of this new temple will be more than the old, and that he will give prosperity.

When you work for God, you do what you can. It is easy to get discouraged. But the one who commissioned you will honor your efforts. He has all the resources in the universe at his fingertips to make it happen. What may be impossible for you is possible for God; he wants it to be your project too.

What follows is an interesting discussion about how contagious holy and unclean things are. If you are carrying around a holy ribeye steak and it touches your fries or soda, does it make the fries and soda holy too? No. But if you touch a dead guy and then touch your fries or soda, does it make them unclean? Yes. Holiness doesn’t just spread automatically, it takes work. Spreading bad things around takes no effort at all. You don’t have to do anything at all, things will fall apart without your attention. “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, says the LORD; and so with every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.” It’s like there was a contagion of apathy spreading while they were not doing the work, or the work they were doing was with the wrong heart, and things were not going well for them. But now that they are working on the temple according to God’s wishes, they will be blessed. They’ll have enough of everything.

What’s the reason God wants them to build a temple, anyway? It isn’t like God needs a temple. He would be just fine without one. The temple is the way they know how to connect with God and have his life-giving presence among them. To build this temple is to invite his presence. To not build it is to signal to God that they aren’t interested enough in his presence. For us, the temple isn’t a structure we go to, but a kind of metaphor for the sacredness of our own bodies, the network of others in our churches and faith communities, and the use of our time.

At the close of the book of Haggai, God mentions shaking things up in a dramatic way again, and that he will make the governor Zerubbabel a “signet ring” or chosen one. It sounds like God is making him a messiah of sorts. Of course, with hindsight, we know he won’t be the messiah. But he is being recognized by God as a leader of significance. And to add to his significance, he is from the line of David, mentioned in the genealogies of Christ provided by both Matthew and Luke. That’s quite the legacy, when you think about it.

There’s a lot that God wants to do, and he is asking for our cooperation, to take up the projects with him, and by doing so, to invite his presence. My advice to you, and I am speaking to myself as well, is to not put off those good things God has put on your heart to do. Even if you don’t feel ready, you’ve got the support network of the God of the universe, and your brothers and sisters in Christ.

-Jay Laurent

Today’s Bible reading can be read or listened to at Bible Gateway here – Haggai 1-2

Tomorrow we read Zechariah 1-7 as we continue on our

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God is Present

1st Samuel 4-8

1 Samuel 4 3 NIV

If a tree falls in the forest, does it make any sound?

This is what I think of when I read 1 Samuel 4-8. The Israelites and Philistines seem to think that the presence of the ark of the covenant is equivalent to God being present and vice versa, if the ark is not anywhere around, God must be absent. The ark of the covenant is merely a physical and tangible symbol of God’s presence. And while it is true that some amazing things took place while the ark was in possession of the Israelites, it wasn’t always a guarantee that having it around would lead to a win. That my friends, is called manipulation. It’s honoring the thing rather than the Creator.
I feel like I might have shared this story with some of you before, but here I go again. Many years ago, I was out on the lake with some friends. It was a gorgeous day and we were wake boarding. I was out in the water waiting for the boat driver to circle around and I just started praying out loud, not loud enough for others to hear me, but it was obvious that my lips were moving. After I had gotten back into the boat, a friend asked me what I was talking about and I just responded, “I was praying”. And her response has stuck with me, “You can pray out on a lake?” She wasn’t kidding, when she asked me that question. She really wasn’t a church goer but she had gone through Catholic Catechism. She was so used to the act of praying being limited to certain environments that praying on a lake was a new concept for her.
It’s easy sometimes to compartmentalize our lives. If we’re not careful, we may find ourselves dressing, speaking, and acting one way at home, another way at church, and another way at school or work. We can become chameleons in our environments in order to cast a persona that works for our benefit, instead of being our real and authentic selves.
What 1 Samuel 4-8 can teach us, if we’re willing to pay attention, is that no matter where we are, what we are doing, or who we are with, God is present. And our ever-present God desires to be our authority, our protector, our provider, our friend. Should we ever be insistent on wanting something else to stand in his place, that is our choice, but that does not mean that God goes away. He will always be there, wherever we are, whatever we’re doing, and whomever we’re with, loving us just the same as always.
Bethany Ligon
Today’s Bible reading can be read or listened to at https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Samuel+4-8&version=NIV
Tomorrow’s reading will be 1st Samuel 9-12 as we continue the 2020 Chronological Bible Reading Plan

Our God

Numbers 8-10 cain

Have you ever thought about your life as a sacrifice to God? When I see how the Levites were cleansed and given before God as a wave offering in verse 13, it makes me want to be the same way before God. Imagine being born into the tribe of Levi and knowing what your purpose is. Your purpose was to grow up, study the job of your calling, study the scriptures, live a righteous life, and eventually serve God for 25 years. But really, how different are any of our lives from that? Can we not have the same basic path? Can we not come to faith, prepare ourselves through study, serve God in our lives, and present ourselves as offerings before God? People give their lives to all sorts of things. Many people choose to make their lives about the pursuit of a career, the growing of a family, the building of a legacy, etc. As the book of Ecclesiastes teaches, life’s meaning comes from following God and keeping His commandments. There is nothing else that we can pursue which gives us meaning and when I read how the Levites were given into the service of God I am reminded of this. I’m not saying everyone must be a pastor or anything like that because serving the LORD comes in many fashions, but we all need to put our life before God as a wave offering. Nothing sounds more appealing to me than being purified before the LORD and serving Him as we see in 8:21. Through Christ, we can all be purified and serve God with the entirety of our lives.

As we move into chapter 9, there is a question that comes up about observing Passover and being unclean. We find the answer in verse 9:10-14.  To me, there is a personal aspect that comes out of the beginning of this chapter. I see real people seeking to live out God’s word. These people wanted so badly to correctly follow God that they asked questions about seeking the desire of God. I think there is a lesson to be learned from the attitude of these followers: be open and real with God in all things. Open up and ask questions, seek His desire, and listen to His response. Today, I think we should learn to posture ourselves more like this before God. He is real and willing to interact with His people and give us wisdom. Sometimes we think that the time for God to interact with His people has passed, even if we don’t believe that, sometimes we act like that is the truth.

Verses 15-16 are an awesome manifestation of God among His people. His presence was continuous around the Tabernacle. Try to imagine the scene in your head. Imagine you are camping with the Israelites. In the middle of the night you walk out of your tent and in the distance, there is the warm glow, looking like fire, surrounding the Tabernacle in the distance. Have you ever seen a big fire from a distance? The warm glow that casts against the clouds in the sky. Imagine that scene every night, knowing that God is here, living among you, watching over you, and showing you His power. Don’t be so fast to read over verses, use your imagination and try to put yourself in the landscape. Imagine the smells, sights, and sounds that would have been observed by the people in the book. This practice brings the Bible to life for us, especially in the book of Numbers, where there are a lot of mind blowing events that take place. Numbers is a hot bed for God’s power manifested like no other time in history. Take your time reading these words and putting yourself in the shoes of the people. It would have been an awesome time to be alive and to witness God working in miraculous ways.

Another point we see in chapter 9 is just how literally God leads His people through the wilderness. When He moved, they moved. God still wants to lead His people today. It might not be a cloud of smoke or fire, literally leading us to the place we need to go, but through prayer and faith He can lead us to great places He has prepared for us. We should be people like those in 9:23. “At the command of the LORD they camped, and at the command of the LORD they set out; they kept the LORD’s charge, according to the command of the LORD through Moses.” When God moves, we should move. When God stays, we should stay. He is leading us to things prepared for us that we can’t see or imagine, but if we follow faithfully, we will be glad we did.

Here’s an intriguing thought. Let’s say you had no modern-day technology – how would you communicate and organize roughly 2.5 million people? Seems like an overwhelming task to me. The system that God put into place at the beginning of chapter 10 is genius. I’m not surprised God came up with such a good system, but none the less, I’m impressed by the simplicity and effectiveness. Now that all the pieces are in place, the tabernacle, the camp organization, the communication system, and the leading system, it is the time to set out for the promise land. The first move was from Sinai to Paran and took three days (10:11-13, 33). We see the organization it took to move millions of people across the desert in verses 14-28. Then come some of the coolest words in the book of Numbers “35 Then it came about when the ark set out that Moses said, ‘Rise up, O Lord! And let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You.’ 36 When it came to rest, he said, ‘Return, O Lord, To the myriad thousands of Israel.’” The protection of the LORD went before them and watched over them in their journey, clearing the path of any obstacles that would stop them from reaching the promise land. God is for His people. I can’t explain how these verses make me feel, but I know that it’s awesome. I love seeing how God extends His arm to deal in the lives of His people. Even though seeing a cloud move might be more obvious, God still extends His arm to deal in the lives of His people today. Take some time to think about the prayers you have prayed. How have they been answered? This is God working in your life. I have seen people changed and situations work out in unusual ways. At some point, you have to stop saying things are coincidence and say that God is working in His people. The same powerful God we see in Numbers is the same God who deals with us today. Don’t forget, the God who liberated millions of people from Egypt is the same God who seeks your heart.

Josiah Cain

 

Today’s Bible reading can be read or listened to at https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+8-10&version=NIV

Tomorrow’s reading will be Numbers 11-13 as we continue on the 2020 Chronological Bible Reading Plan

 

Making Space for God’s Leading

Exodus 39-40

Exodus 39 43 NIV

Throughout history God has lead his people many ways. To a few he spoke audibly, others in dreams but he used the tabernacle to lead the Israelites. They set up the tabernacle to the very detail as God requested. After it was complete, 40:34 says

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 

God made his presence known and clearly began to lead the people on their travels. Whenever the cloud left the people knew it was time to get up and go. Whenever the cloud would stop the people would also stop.

Sometimes I wish that God led us today in such an obvious manner. I need fool proof directions just to get across town let alone the race we are called to run as followers of Christ.

Although it is not as obvious, God still leads his people. He still tells us when and where to go and also when and where to stay.

The tabernacle was a dedicated place for God in the lives of the Israelites. They gave of their time, energy and resources to have a spot for God in their lives. Many often claim that they want direction from God but have not made space for his leading in their lives. They have not made time or space for God.

After the ascension of Christ, the believers were blessed with God’s presence in an even better way than the tabernacle. God’s power, his presence, his spirit can dwell in YOU!

Will you make time and space in your life – for the glory of God to lead you where he would have you go? And further, are you willing to follow that lead?

John Wincapaw

Today’s Bible reading can be read or listened to at https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+39-40&version=NIV

Tomorrow we begin the book of Leviticus – chapters 1-4 – as we continue the 2020 Chronological Bible Reading Plan

In God’s Presence

Exodus 25-27

Exodus 25 8 NIV

                Places of worship come in all different shapes and sizes.  I have worshipped God in huge cathedrals with impressive pipe organs and altars overlaid with gold and stained glass windows.  I have also worshipped God in open-air tabernacles with sawdust floors.  I have worshipped God in a deer stand, at the beach, on a mountaintop and on a table undergoing radiation.  I have worshipped God in loud and energetic services with guitars, drums, and electronic keyboards and I have worshipped him in places with no sound at all except the flickering flame of a single candle.

                I believe God loves to be worshipped in lots of ways and in lots of places.  Even in the Biblical stories God was worshipped on simple stone altars, in burning bushes, on mountain tops and down in valleys.

                Israel was at a critical time in their formation and it was important for them to have a steady reminder of God’s presence.  God made his presence visible to them as they journeyed with both a pillar of cloud in the day and a pillar of fire at night.  As they continued their journey across the wilderness, God chose to make his visible presence known to them in a portable house of worship.  This place would provide structure in the midst of their community wherever they stopped to make camp.  The tent of meeting or tabernacle would be an ongoing visible sign that God’s glory was in their midst.  And God taught them how to be a holy nation. He used various symbols and rituals of sacrifice and worship as a way to drill home to them his holiness and the consequences of sin.

                How God chose to do this is quite interesting.  He could have simply built a temple Himself in the heavens and dropped it down fully formed on earth.  However, God chose instead to invite His people to become active participants in creating this place of worship.

                First, God began with their willing desire to give.  “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze;  blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair;  ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather.  acacia wood;  olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breast piece” (Exodus 25:2-7).   This was not a mandatory tithe that was required; this was an offering to be willingly given and received.

                Where did the people get all of these valuable commodities?  If you will recall, as they were leaving Egypt they were given many valuable items by the Egyptian peoples – one might say this was payment to help compensate for years of slavery.  They had these items in their possession already.  Those who were willing could give them to help create the tent of meeting and the prescribed worship items inside of the temple, which included the Ark of the Covenant, the table, the lampstand as well as the material for the tabernacle itself, and the altar, courtyard and the oil to keep the lamps burning.  All of the materials were freely donated.  The people of God used their own skill to build the items from these donated materials – carpenters, weavers, stonemasons, goldsmiths and others each made their own contributions to the creation of this place of worship.  In this way, everyone in the community that wished to participate had buy in to the tabernacle.  It truly was a communal place of worship.

                Once the nation finished their journey through the wilderness and took possession of the Promised Land, they would eventually transition from a portable tent of meeting to a permanent temple under the leadership of King Solomon.  However, this tent of meeting served them well for 40 years in the wilderness and many more during the times of the judges, and king’s Saul and David.

                For Christians, we do not worship God in a tabernacle or physical temple and we do not bring sacrifices of sheep or goats or bulls for an offering to God.  For us, the Church itself is the temple of God.  I am not talking about the building where the Church gathers to worship, I am talking about the actual people who gather to worship, and we are the Church.  Jesus said whenever 2-3 gather in his name that he is there in their midst.  There is no one single right way or place to worship God.  It is wherever God’s people come together.  Christian Worship does not have to follow follow a strict pattern.  Worship is where we gather to read the word of God, pray, worship, encourage each other and exhort one another to good works, break bread and proclaim the resurrection of Jesus.  Blood sacrifices are not necessary because Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and he entered into the holy of holies once and for all and gave his own body as the final sacrifice for all of our sins.

                One thing remains unchanged from the time of Israel in the wilderness tent of meeting and the Church today.  God still welcomes us to bring our offerings from the heart as a way to say thank you.  We can still bring tangible offerings, and we can still offer our gifts and talents as ways of showing God our deep gratitude for all of his blessings to us.  It is not all that important how we worship or where we worship, but it is very important that we worship and we bring our offerings freely to worship God.

Jeff Fletcher

 

Today’s Bible reading can be read or listened to at https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+25-27&version=NIV

Tomorrow’s reading will be Exodus 28-29 on the 2020 Chronological Bible Reading Plan

Tâmîym, ʼâbad, kâlâh and kârath

Psalm 37 22

            Today, we are in the middle of the week and we find ourselves in the middle of our Lectio Divina (Sacred Reading) of Psalm 37.* Today’s reading is a little more in-depth, so if you’re in a hurry you might wish to come back to this at a time later today when you can invest a few minutes into reading/praying.  My goal here is not just to give you a fish and feed you for a day but to teach you how to fish so you can learn to feed yourself for the rest of your life (and feed others).

            Remember, the purpose of Lectio is to draw us into God’s presence and rest through reading, meditating upon and praying with the Bible.  While the goal is not simply intellectual understanding, but relationship with God, it is still important that when we read and meditate we are doing so correctly.  We want to be as accurate as possible about the meaning of God’s Word.  We want to think about what it actually says and what it meant when it was written and what it means for us today.  It wouldn’t make much sense to spend a lot of time meditating upon something that was not correct.

            If you have internet access, there are some tools readily available which cost nothing and can help you.

            One tool is Bible Gateway.  I began working in a Christian bookstore when I was attending George Mason University back in 1982.  I became aware of a lot of different Bible translations that were available (beyond the King James).  I started building a library of various Bible translations and nearly 40 years later I have over 50 different translations on my bookshelves.  You can now get almost every one of those translations (and many more) on Bible Gateway.  Choose the text you wish to study, and choose which translations you wish to use and you can see a side by side comparison of the texts.  This can be helpful when you are studying a Biblical passage.  It can help you understand the nuances of meaning.  Some translations are more or less word for word, while others are more thought for thought.  There are also paraphrase versions which attempt to convey the meaning in modern contextual language.

            The second tool is Blue Letter Bible.  While the available translations are fewer than on Bible Gateway, BLB allows you to do a detailed analysis and word study of various words.  You can look up the original Hebrew/Aramaic or Greek words and see some of the various ways that word is used in the Bible and have a greater understanding of what the Bible was saying back when originally written and you bridge that into modern day language/ways of thinking and speaking.

            With that said, I’ve identified 4 key words that are used in today’s reading and give you a summary of the word meaning and usage in the Bible:

תָּמִים tâmîym, taw-meem’;  entire (literally, figuratively or morally); also   integrity, truth:—without blemish, complete, full, perfect, sincerely, sound, without spot, undefiled, upright, whole.

אָבַד ʼâbad, aw-bad’; to wander away, i.e. lose oneself; by implication to perish:—break, destroy(-uction), not escape, fail, lose, (cause to, make) perish, spend, be undone, utterly, be void of, have no way to flee.

כָּלָה kâlâh, kaw-law’; to end, to cease, be finished, perish, consume, destroy (utterly), be done, , expire, fail, faint, finish, fulfill, wholly reap, make clean riddance, spend, take away, waste.

כָּרַת kârath, kaw-rath’; to cut off, down or asunder, by implication, to destroy or consume; destroy, fail, lose, perish.

With that background in place, you are ready to proceed with today’s Lectio Divina reading of Psalm 37:18-22.

  1. Read.  Read through the passage slowly, at least 3 times:

18 The blameless (תָּמִים tâmîym, taw-meem’) spend their days under the Lord’s care,
and their inheritance will endure forever.
19 In times of disaster they will not wither;
in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.

20 But the wicked will perish (אָבַד ʼâbad, aw-bad’):
Though the Lord’s enemies are like the flowers of the field,
they will be consumed (כָּלָה kâlâh, kaw-law’), they will go up in smoke.

21 The wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous give generously;
22 those the Lord blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be destroyed (כָּרַת kârath, kaw-rath’)

  1. Meditate.  Choose a word or phrase from the text to  meditate upon/ think deeply about.

For me, I chose 3 words- perish, consumed, and destroyed.  Those who are wicked will perish, be consumed and destroyed.  The Hebrew abad contains the idea of wander away, lose oneself, have no way to flee, be destroyed.

            As I think about what this means I’m reminded of the story of Christopher McCandless whose story is recounted in the book “Into the Wild” (and later movie) written by Jon Krakauer.  Chris was just a few years younger than me and grew up just a few miles from me in Northern Virginia.  After college he decided to ditch everything and walk into the wilderness of Alaska and live off the land.  Unfortunately, he did almost no preparation and he lacked the minimal survival skills necessary for such an adventure.  He crossed through a small stream and found temporary shelter in an abandoned school bus.  Unfortunately, within a short time the stream swelled to an un-crossable raging torrent and Chris was essentially trapped.  He spent weeks and months unable to escape that spot and soon ran out of food and was forced to forage.  He ended up dying of poisoning from eating poisonous berries.

            I tell that brief story because it illustrates the meaning of abad, kalah and karath.  He wandered away and got lost, trapped and had nowhere to flee to and his own foolishness ultimately destroyed his life.  That’s what the Psalm says is happening or will happen to the wicked.  I know that sometimes people have trouble thinking that a loving God would punish or destroy people.  As I think about this Psalm, the greater nuance emerges – God doesn’t choose to punish anyone.  Ultimately we end up punishing ourselves when we wander off the path that God has given us to life.  It’s a matter of cause and effect.

A few weeks ago I went hiking in Zion National Park in Utah.  A gorgeous place.  It had paths and the signs on the paths warned “stay on the path- it is dangerous and life threatening if you leave the path.”  I stayed on the path, it was difficult at times, but I remained safe and returned alive.  Had I veered off the path and ended up falling down a steep embankment to my death, then I alone would have been responsible for my destruction, not the park rangers, or God.

            This Psalm is like the sign on the path: stick to the path or you’ll destroy yourself.  But if you stick to the path, you’ll be blessed with a beautiful inheritance God has planned for you.

            As I personalize this reading I have to ask myself.  When have I gotten off the path God told me to stay on?  Have I ever wandered and gotten lost?  Isaiah 53 says that I, like everyone else, am like a sheep that sometimes wanders away.  How has Jesus, the good shepherd, come searching for me when I’ve wandered astray?  How does the Gospel reveal God’s merciful love and grace that sends his son to seek and save me when I’m lost.  How am I called by Jesus to do this same work of seeking those who are lost and leading them back to the path?

            You might choose a different word or phrase upon which to reflect, but that is an example of how my deep reading of a short part of this text raises some important issues in my mind and heart.

  1.  Pray– I pray a prayer of gratitude to God for loving me enough to go looking for me when I get off the path.  I pray a prayer of confession to God, for I am still “prone to wander” off the path.  I recognize the important mission that I’ve been given by God to join the search for others who have gone off the path and the responsibility I have to point the people in my care- my family, my Church, my co-workers, my community, to the one who guides them back to the right path and helps them stay on the path, Jesus.  I invite you to bring to prayer whatever you’ve been meditating upon.
  2. Rest in God.  I’m so grateful to God for his mercy and love.  I’ve been lost, but now I’m safely in the arms of my loving God.  I invite you to rest in God too.

-Pastor Jeff Fletcher

*If you are unfamiliar with the Lectio Divina method of prayer/scripture study please refer back to the Sunday, August 11th  devotion.

Delight in the Lord

Psalm 37 4a

For this week’s devotions I’m going to focus, again on the Psalms.  Earlier this year we looked at 7 different types of Psalms and had an example of each.
This week I want to look at only one Psalm.  Each day we will consider a section of the Psalm and I’m going to invite you to use it in your devotional time.  Some of you may be familiar with the way I’m going to ask you to read this Psalm, it’s called Lectio Divina.  If you’re familiar, great!  If not, I’ll give you a brief introduction.

Lectio Divina is a Latin term which simply means “sacred reading” .  It’s been around for a long time.  It’s simply a way of meditatively and prayerfully reading a short passage of scripture in a way that leads into prayer and time in God’s presence.  There are 4 stages to Lectio Divina: Read, Meditate, Pray, Rest in God.
1.        Read.    Take a short passage of scripture and read through it several times.  Read it in a personal way.  You’re not reading it to prepare a lesson or a sermon or to share it with someone else.  You are reading it to allow God to speak to you through His word.
2.       Meditate.   As you read, choose a single word or short phrase that really speaks to you and think about it (To meditate is to chew on it with your mind, internalize it, and chew on it some more engaging your whole person, thoughts, feelings etc… think about how a cow ruminates on grass or hay).
3.        Pray.   After spending time meditating on that word or phrase and really personalizing it, then bring it to God in prayer.  Does it lead you to praise God?  Does it lead you to thank God?  Does it raise questions that you need to bring to God?  Does it call forth a sense of guilt for a sin that you need to confess to God?  Whatever it brings forth in you, bring that to God in prayer and spend some time talking to God about whatever it is that your reading and meditation has brought to mind.
4.       Rest in God.  The final stage of lectio divina is to simply bring you into God’s presence.  You know how great it is when you are with someone you love and you can just enjoy being present with them…  no one’s looking at their phone, no one’s talking or really doing anything other than simply enjoying being in the other’s presence?  Do that with God.  Just spend some time enjoying God’s presence.

That’s really all there is to it.  If you Google Lectio Divina or look it up in books on Christian spirituality you may find other fancy words like: Lectio, Meditatio, Oratorio, Contemplacio etc… They are all just Latin words that mean the same thing: Read, Meditate, Pray, Rest in God.
I hope you’ll try it this week.

I’ve chosen Psalm 37 to look at every day this week.  I’ve chosen this Psalm because I’ve been spending a lot of time this year meditating on this one Psalm, especially verse 4.

Today, I want to look at the first 4 verses:
“Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong;
for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.
Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Read:
As I read through this there are several things that immediately catch my attention.  How often do I fret because of those who are evil?  Do I see the junk that people do and find myself stewing over it?  How can they do that stuff?  What is WRONG with them?
As I dig a little deeper –  Am I ever envious of those who do wrong?  Do I ever look at the rich, the good looking, the famous, the powerful and see the terrible lifestyle choices they always seem to make, and then get ticked off because they have all the goodies?  Do I envy their money or the stuff their money can buy?
How often am I guilty of looking at what other people are doing instead of looking at God and making sure that I’m doing what God has called me to do?  I see an invitation to Trust God and do what I know is right and let God worry about the results.
But it’s the last verse that really captures my heart: “Take delight in the Lord.”
What does it mean to delight in something?  Three of my grandchildren all turned one this summer.  I got to be present at one of their birthday parties, and I saw videos of the other two who live in Minnesota.  In each case it was amazing to see them “take delight” in their birthday “smash cakes”.  They would dig in, squeeze it, taste it and get really excited.  I still remember the looks of delight on their faces.
You might take delight in tasting delicious food, seeing an old friend or family member, your favorite sports team winning the championship, seeing an “A” on your paper, trying on your wedding dress (or seeing your bride walk down the aisle toward you in that dress).
God wants us to delight in Him more than anything else.

 Mediate:

Spend some time thinking about what it means to delight in God.  When have you delighted in God?  What was it like?
Pray:

Spend some time talking with God about what you’ve been thinking about delighting in Him.

 

Rest:

Now, delight in God.  Spend some time just enjoying God’s presence.

 

Pastor Jeff Fletcher

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